The Madras School of Orientalism

Thomas Trautmann

Pioneering study

Cutting-edge research from across disciplines

Well-known contributors

Well illustrated-24 visuals

The Madras School of Orientalism

Thomas Trautmann

Description

'Madras School of Orientalism' (MSO) refers to a school of scholarship emanating from certain intellectual projects of early nineteenth century south India. This book explores new ideas on India's history and culture that were coming out of the Madras School of Orientalism-the projects undertaken in language, history, religion and law, the concerned Indian intellectuals. Orientalist study of south India constituted a distinctive school, which modelled itself upon the Calcutta Asiatic Society but claimed that Calcutta Orientalists did not understand the peculiarities of south India, and hence made generalizations about India that were faulty. The volume has contributions from very well-known academics like T.R. Trautmann, Nicholas Dirks, Phillip Wagoner, Sylvia Vatuk,
Donald Davis, and A.R.Venkatachalapathy. It contains 24 illustrations which includes figures and maps. The introduction by Trautmann succinctly contextualizes the ideas and activities of the Madras school.

The Madras School of Orientalism

Thomas Trautmann

Table of Contents

Preface and Acknowledgements, Introduction, Thomas R. Trautmann; Section I Projects: 1. Colin Mackenzie: Autobiography of an Archive, Nicholas B. Dirks;2. Islamic Learning at the College of Fort St George in Nineteenth-century Madras, Sylvia Vatuk;Section II Indian Intellectuals: 4. . 'Grammar, the Frame of Language': Tamil Pandits at the College of Fort St. George, A.R. Venkatachalapathy;5. The Kavali Brothers: Intellectual Life in Early Colonial Madras, Rama Sundari Mantena;6. Knowing the Deccan: Enquiries, Points, and Poets in the Construction of Knowledge and Power in Early-Nineteenth-century Southern India, Lisa Mitchell;7. From Manuscript to Archive to Print: The Mackenzie Collection and Later
Telugu Literary Historiography, Phillip B. Wagoner;Section III Language in South India: 8. Tamil Munshis and Kacceri Tamil under the Company's Document Raj in Early-Nineteenth-Century Madras Bhavani Raman;9. The College of Fort St George and the Transformation of Tamil Philology during the Nineteenth Century, Sascha Ebeling;Section IV Objects of Study: Histories of Religion, Law, and Land: 10. . Orientalists, Missionaries, and Jains: The South Indian Story, Leslie Orr;11. Law in the Mirror of Language: The Madras School of Orientalism on Hindu Law, Donald R. Davis, Jr;12. . Riot over Ryotwar, Thomas R. Trautmann

The Madras School of Orientalism

Thomas Trautmann

Author Information

Thomas R. Trautmann is Professor, Department of History, University of Michigan